BROUGHT TO YOU IN PARTNERSHIP WITH SHUTTERFLY.
IMAGES BY 2ND TRUTH

Joe and I are notorious for not taking photos of ourselves together. More often than not, a friend has to remind us to be in a “normal” photo together. I fully recognize the irony: A couple that loves their individual Instagram accounts so much but a documentation of togetherness is often forgotten.

Then we had this little baby and all I wanted to do was document every moment of our expanding family. In fact, as soon as I got home from the hospital I began organizing the 10,000 photos on my phone into albums and selecting images to print.

So, it’s only natural that this is the year we finallllllly send out a holiday card. Every year I receive holiday cards from friends and family, and every year I think “next year”. Even when I had grand plans to send our wedding photos out after we married in November of 2013, time just somehow slipped away. This is the first time in my adult life, that I’ve had my act together and the forethought to order holiday cards prior to December 23rd.

And we really went for it this year… I mean there are matching pajamas involved and everything. There is something truly liberating about becoming the dorky parents we always knew we’d become! Colleen at 2nd Truth took our family photos a couple weeks ago and we donned these matching Polarn O. Preyt PO.P pajamas. (I have been living in them since. Literally.) I decided to design our own cards by using Shutterfly’s “upload your own design” offering. They have a number of different formats and sizes with built in image guidelines making it a breeze to upload and design your card. If you’d rather opt for a pre-designed card they have a number of different formats to choose from. We also opted for a liner and had our envelopes printed with our return address on them.

Care to see more family photos? I thought so 😉

SPOILER ALERT: If you are related to me please stop reading now (Christmas gifts are listed below. No peeking!)

Given we have so many photos and so few of them have ever been printed, I made an easel calendar for Joe’s desk at work. Each month is dedicated to a different moment in our lives we’ve shared, from our anniversary to the month August was born, to a month dedicated entirely to cute Winnie Bear photos. I love the modern Helvetica design and the bamboo base is lovely, too.

I did not stop there. In the spirit of fully embracing our obsession with our first born, I made these adorable mugs for my mother and mother-in-law. The black and white filtering option made it easy for all of my snaps to look cohesive. I call these mugs “the many faces of August” mugs. I now realize that photos of your baby will always be a great gift for your parents. I mean, they’re just as crazy about your kid as you are, so you can have your child’s face emblazoned on just about anything without fear of judgement.

Thanks again to our partners at Shutterfly to letting us run wild with their many customization offerings. Click here to design your own holiday card, here to upload your photos to this easel calendar, and here to make your own personalized gifts.

This post is sponsored by Shutterfly. Share and celebrate your family milestone. Shop Shutterfly for personalized holiday cards and gifts that are unique, meaningful and just the way you want.

Kate Arends

Kate is the founder of Wit & Delight. She is currently learning how to play tennis and is forever testing the boundaries of her creative muscle. Follow her on Instagram at @witanddelight_.